British and Irish Lions 2017: Sonny Bill Williams' red card a defining moment in 'rugby's greatest series'
New Zealand centre's moment of madness could end up costing his side the series as pulsating second Test leaves plenty of controversial talking points
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Your support makes all the difference.Games of rugby are made up of a series of defining moments during an 80-minute period spread out over two hours, but rarely does an entire Test series pivot on a single moment of madness.
That’s what should have been running through the mind of Sonny Bill Williams as he trudged off the Westpac Stadium turf having cost the All Blacks a comfortable 2-0 series victory with a game to spare. Had the centre not earned himself a red card for a shoulder charge to the head of Anthony Watson, it’s very likely that New Zealand would have held on to win the second Test against the British and Irish Lions, but now they face a third Test decider at Eden Park next Saturday.
Incredibly, the Lions have led the All Blacks for fewer than three minutes across the two Tests so far this series, and yet they head back to Auckland locked at 1-1 in the best-of-three contest. The have Williams to thank for that.
The rain that hammered the Cake Tin for the first 20 minutes of the second Test made it incredibly hard to score, and having already seen Beauden Barrett hit the upright with an early penalty when Mako Vunipola collapsed a scrum, the All Blacks will have breathed a sigh of relief when his second attempt sailed over the posts.
But what followed was a moment of stupidity from Williams that could yet cost New Zealand the series in what would be only their second series defeat in 129 years of playing the Lions. He forgot that his rugby league days are long behind him and drove his right shoulder into the face of Watson. The thousands of Lions supporters inside the Wellington stadium were up in arms, and French referee Jerome Garces immediately went to a television match official review to determine the seriousness of the offence.
The immediate feeling was a red card. The second viewing was still a red card and even when TMO George Ayoub appeared to try and convince Garces that it was perhaps a yellow card, Garces stuck to his guns. Williams was off, the first All Black to be red carded since Sir Colin Meads in 1967 during a Test against Scotland at Murrayfield, and he will go down in history as just the third New Zealand player to be sent-off in an international.
New Zealand reacted by doing what they do best. They knuckled down, played smart rugby and tried to force the Lions into playing the rugby that they did not want to play in the conditions. For 60 minutes it worked, and the Lions, through frustration, were beginning to be the creators of their own downfall with a series of penalty infringements in the third quarter that gifted the home side an 18-9 lead.
Yet what they lacked in Auckland last week, they found in Wellington. The Lions roared, and led by the determined Maro Itoje and brilliant Jamie George, they forced their way back into the match. A well-executed try from Taulupe Faletau put them in touching distance, and not even a seventh Barrett penalty could prevent the Lions from drawing level when Conor Murray’s converted try in the 69th minute tied things up at 21-21.
Then came the controversial moment that will be talked about throughout the week ahead, if not longer. Kyle Sinckler hit the line on a crash ball, just as Charlie Faumuina lined him up for the tackle, the two replacement tighthead props on a collision course that would be felt across the country. The only issue was that Murray’s pass to Sinckler was above him and, as a result, he had to jump to take it. An airborne Sinckler crashed into Faumuina, who could not get out of the way, and everyone looked at Garces for a match-deciding decision. His arm went in favour of the Lions, and Farrell stepped up to kick his fifth successful kick and secure a famous victory that will go down in Lions history.
Yet as Sam Warburton said on Thursday, that was the semi-final. Next Saturday comes the final, and both sides will go one more time in a series that has suddenly encapsulated rugby’s dominant regions on opposite ends of the globe. The pre-tour motto was that “rugby’s greatest series” is back. The Kiwis had no idea how right they were.
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